Accidents

Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | XTO

XTO Pays Dearly for 2010 Wastewater Spill in Lycoming County, PA
July 19, 2013July 19, 2013

Yesterday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice announced a deal with XTO Energy to resolve what they say was a violation of the Clean Water Act in 2010 when XTO experienced a spill of fracking wastewater from a storage tank in Lycoming County, PA.

That spill is going to cost XTO dearly: a $100,000 fine, and another $20 million to craft a “comprehensive plan to improve wastewater management”…
Read More “XTO Pays Dearly for 2010 Wastewater Spill in Lycoming County, PA”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County

Smoke at MarkWest Chartiers, PA Gas Processing Plant
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

MarkWest operates a large natural gas processing plant in Chartiers Township (Washington County), PA. In the past few years they doubled the size of the plant. Apparently the installation of more new equipment due to go online yesterday didn’t go as planned. Characterizing it as “several events,” automated safety equipment kicked in and burned off (or flared) propane at the plant–resulting in smoke that could be seen for miles.

The (scant) known details of what happened yesterday at the Chariters processing plant:
Read More “Smoke at MarkWest Chartiers, PA Gas Processing Plant”
Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Update on Antero Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

Yesterday, MDN told you about the well site explosion in Doddridge County, WV (see Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People). Depending on the news source, the number of people injured is anywhere from five to eight, and we still don’t know exactly what happened. But we do know (or suspect) a bit more: there was no fracking going on at the time of the explosion, and the explosion did not involve the drilling rig. It appears it had to do with a malfunctioning water pump being used to pump well logging tools out the borehole.

The latest from West Virginia Metro News:
Read More “Update on Antero Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV”
Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

Shale drilling is an industrial process and accidents happen–it’s inevitable. Still, it’s sad when it does happen. Early Sunday morning there was an explosion at an Antero Resources drilling site in Doddridge County, WV injuring eight people–four of whom were airlifted to West Penn Hospital’s burn center in Pittsburgh.

The very scant details as we now them right now:
Read More “Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners

PA DEP Slaps PVR Gathering with $150K Fine for Illegal Discharges
June 7, 2013June 7, 2013

PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering, a PA-based midstream company, was fined $150,000 this week by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection for four episodes of “discharge violations” that happened while PVR was constructing the Coal Mountain pipeline in Lycoming County, PA in 2011. The DEP slapped them hard because, says the DEP, the company kept repeating the same violation–discharging bentonite (impure clay) into a local creek. PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering is a subsidiary of PVR Partners (formerly Penn Virginia Resource Partners).

The DEP announcement:
Read More “PA DEP Slaps PVR Gathering with $150K Fine for Illegal Discharges”
Accidents | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

AP’s Non-Story About PA Water Wells “Contaminated” by Drilling
May 20, 2013

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it’s been entirely too long since the Marcellus Shale drilling industry has had a serious allegation of water contamination leveled against it, so it’s time to manufacture a faux “controversy” and attempt to smear the industry. Thank God for the AP and Scranton Times-Tribune, who will readily comply and do just that.

First, the latest smear job by AP that attempts to say that 161 PA water wells have been “contaminated” from 2008-2012, then our analysis of this sham story to set the record straight.
Read More “AP’s Non-Story About PA Water Wells “Contaminated” by Drilling”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | Williams

Fire at Williams Compressor Station in Susquehanna County, PA
May 15, 2013May 15, 2013

A fire broke out at a natural gas compressor station owned and operated by Williams in Brooklyn Township (Susquehanna County), PA last night. Read More “Fire at Williams Compressor Station in Susquehanna County, PA”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

PA DEP Not Releasing Report on Franklin Forks Contamination
May 2, 2013May 2, 2013

If you thought (like we did) that the matter of potential water well methane contamination in Franklin Forks, PA was put to rest with the recent announcement by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that drilling is not to blame, you would be wrong. In December 2011, three families in the Franklin Forks (Susquehanna County) area complained their well water had gone bad. Nearby drilling by WPX was to blame, according to the homeowners. But after an exhaustive 16-month investigation, the state DEP announced earlier this week that WPX’s drilling is not to blame (see PA DEP Says Drilling Did NOT Contaminate Water in Franklin Forks). The DEP said the same natural conditions that closed down a nearby trailer park more than a decade ago was the cause. Case closed, right?

No. And here’s why… According to at least one news source, the DEP refuses to release a copy of the report that discloses their findings and the methodology they used to arrive at the conclusions they did. You can bet that anti-drillers will attack this like vultures picking over a dead carcass. Here is what the Epoch Times is reporting about the “missing report”:
Read More “PA DEP Not Releasing Report on Franklin Forks Contamination”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy

PA DEP Fines PGE for Spills, Discharges in Lycoming County
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Pennsylvania General Energy Co. $125,500 for two different sets of violations in Lycoming County, PA that occurred in 2011 and 2012. The fines were for three spills and for excessive sediment discharges into a local creek.

The details from the DEP:
Read More “PA DEP Fines PGE for Spills, Discharges in Lycoming County”
Accidents | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Tyler County | West Virginia

Second Death from Flash Fire at WV Pipeline Station
April 17, 2013

A second man has now died from injuries received last Thursday in a flash fire at a “pig receiving station” along a Eureka Hunter pipeline near Wick (Tyler County), WV (see Flash Fire at Pipeline Station in WV Kills 1, Injures 3 Others for our original report and background details).

We mourn with the families of Raymond Miller and Bruce Phipps:
Read More “Second Death from Flash Fire at WV Pipeline Station”
Accidents | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Tag Team Grudge Match: Jesse White/Patch v Range Resources/DEP
April 17, 2013

The ongoing grudge match between western PA Rep. Jesse White (from Cecil) and Range Resources continues and has grown. Last week White made a formal “Right to Know” request with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (another favorite target of White) over the alleged leakage of 30 gallons of…fresh water? frack wastewater?…it’s not clear to MDN which it is–from a Range impoundment located in Cecil Township.

Regardless of the tiny amount of whatever leaked, the DEP has not responded to White, yet, so he’s turning up the pressure by going to his favorite media stenographer, Canon-McMillanPatch:
Read More “Tag Team Grudge Match: Jesse White/Patch v Range Resources/DEP”
Accidents | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Tyler County | West Virginia

Flash Fire at Pipeline Station in WV Kills 1, Injures 3 Others
April 15, 2013April 15, 2013

A flash fire at a "pig receiving station" along a Eureka Hunter pipeline near Wick (Tyler County), WV last Thursday evening seriously injured three people requiring they be airlifted to Pittsburgh. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital. Sadly, one of the seriously injured workers, 56-year-old Bruce Phipps of Marietta, Ohio, died late Friday night. Pipeline Inspection Gauges (or Pigs) are used for pipeline cleaning, inspection and maintenance, and fluid batching in pipelines. A pig is pushed along the inside of a pipeline by the flow of liquid or gas. A pig launching station is used to insert the pig into a pipeline using a series of valves and hatches. The pig is pushed through the pipeline by the liquid or gas stream to the pig receiving station.

It was at such a receiving station where the flash fire occurred. According to news accounts, the flash fire was under control within 15 minutes…

Read More “Flash Fire at Pipeline Station in WV Kills 1, Injures 3 Others”
Accidents | Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Update on Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in Brooke County, WV
April 11, 2013April 11, 2013

An update on the Chesapeake Energy well fire in Brooke County, WV that on Monday torched five tractor-trailers and did $8 million in damage:

Read More “Update on Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in Brooke County, WV”
Accidents | Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in WV Does $8M in Damage
April 10, 2013April 9, 2013

A fire at a Chesapeake Energy well site in Brooke County, WV on Monday destroyed five tractor-trailers and caused an estimated $8 million in damage. Fortunately, no one was injured. The details as we know them:

Read More “Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in WV Does $8M in Damage”
Accidents | Beaver County | Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Beaver Falls, PA – Downriver from Youngstown Frackwater Dumping
April 10, 2013April 9, 2013

An article in the Youngstown Vindicator asks the question of whether or not the illegal dumping of frack wastewater in the Mahoning River by D&L Energy owner Ben Lupo (see Youngstown Wastewater Dumper Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court) has contaminated water supplies down river—particularly in Beaver Falls, PA. Beaver Falls gets its water from the Beaver River, which in turn gets its water from the Mahoning River where the dumping took place.

According to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, Beaver Falls noticed "some problems" but the incident probably had "just a minor effect." That’s not much comfort for residents in Beaver Falls who wonder whether or not they were drinking polluted water…

Read More “Beaver Falls, PA – Downriver from Youngstown Frackwater Dumping”
Accidents | Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater | Wyoming County (PA)

Carrizo Resumes Fracking at Site of Spill in Wyoming County, PA
April 8, 2013April 8, 2013

On March 13, Carrizo Oil & Gas temporarily lost control of a Marcellus Shale gas well they were fracking in Wyoming County, PA, leading to a spill of over 200,000 gallons of fracking water. The frack water was contained and trucked away (see Carrizo Problem Fracking NE PA Well, Evacuates 3 Nearby Families). Since then, Carrizo has tested local water sources and has found “nothing unusual,” so the state PA Dept. of Environmental Protection has given them the green light to resume fracking the well:

Read More “Carrizo Resumes Fracking at Site of Spill in Wyoming County, PA”